The Dodgers finally ran into a team having as much trouble stringing together hits as they do.

The trick was going to be matching the Angels pitch for pitch.

Chan Ho Park was more than up for the task, getting the best of one of the American League’s top starters, as he topped Angels 11-game winner Joe Saunders.

Park combined with three relievers in a 6-0 Dodgers victory that reduced their deficit in the National League West to 2? games. It is the closest the Dodgers have been to the division lead in nearly a month.

The fact that one of the Dodgers’ most complete victories of the season was delivered against the crosstown Angels was not lost on Andre Ethier, whose three-run home run in the seventh inning sealed the victory.

“Waking up this morning, you know these guys are coming and it makes it a midseason game that means a little more than the rest of them,” Ethier said, referring to the Angels’ 21-13 record in the Freeway Series since 2003. “Every game of the season means a lot, but it’s nice to face rivals like the Giants and Angels that bring in more intensity because of the geographical element.”

It was the Dodgers’ second shutout in three games after Eric Stults pitched one Wednesday. In between, the Dodgers were shut out by the Chicago White Sox.

“We’ve had some great pitching and tonight we worked it out,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. “We need to win four or five games in a row, I think, just to get our confidence (up). We’re certainly a lot better than our (37-42) record tells us we are.”

The Angels entered the series on a full head of steam and gave no indication that the opener would be so lopsided. The Angels had won five of their first six games on their interleague road trip and arrived at Dodger Stadium with a 4?-game lead in the American League West.

Unlike the Angels, who are comfortably out in front in their division, the Dodgers can see their division leader, the Arizona Diamondbacks, on the horizon but still feel like they are seeing a mirage.

“It is surprising because we haven’t been playing that good of baseball,” Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said. “If we can start playing more like we did (Friday) we’ll be all right.”

The role reversal started early when Martin hit a first-inning home run off Saunders.

A rare Angels error – on a throw by shortstop Erick Aybar – set up the Dodgers for two more runs in the fifth inning.

Saunders still had a solid night, allowing just two earned runs over five innings, but he couldn’t keep pace with Park. The Dodgers’ right-hander, who was making just his third start of the season, gave up just four hits over six innings and struck out seven.

Before Friday, Park was better known in Freeway Series lore for performing a flying scissor kick on Angels pitcher Tim Belcher during an on-field confrontation. This time he had his fight in all the right places.

“He’s the old Chan Ho right now,” Martin said. “He has his velocity up to 94-95 (mph). He’s really sneaky with his fastball because of a short-(armed) delivery. His breaking pitches have a lot of bite to them and he’s been aggressive getting ahead of hitters. He’s awesome right now.”

Said Angels manager Mike Scioscia: “Chan Ho pitches tough against us. He pitched a good game against us. We just didn’t get too many good looks at him.”

After Park left, Brian Falkenborg pitched a scoreless seventh inning, throwing just six pitches in the process. Then Jonathan Broxton struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning and closer Takashi Saito, pitching in a non-save situation, matched Broxton’s feat by striking out Erick Aybar, Howie Kendrick and Garret Anderson.

More nights like these will definitely get the Dodgers thinking like a contender again.

“I’m not really worried about Arizona until we put ourselves in (a better) position,” Torre said. “There is nothing to do when you sit on the bench but watch the (out-of-town) scoreboard. It shows us that as difficult as things have been going, we still have a shot. We have to do something to deserve that.”